Sick and tired of current hosting company

[MustangGTorg]

First of all, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum (please move if not). :)

After the recent mess I'm STILL dealing with in trying to fix our website / message board at IPowerWeb (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168352) and reading all the negative comments about them here, I'm trying to decide on my next move.

I've had 3 different web hosts and they've ALL been horrible (some more horrible than others). I'm scared to go to all the work to move to yet another host for fear I'll be in the same mess once again in a short period of time.

I guess my question is... how practical would it be to set up my own web server (in my own home)? Our website is pretty small and gets a relatively small-medium amount of traffic. It's currently on a Windows server (due to the .asp forms I have set up) and there really isn't anything too fancy set up except for the message board and my .asp forms. We have a DSL connection at home right now. I've done a limited amount of research on it, but would like some real-world opinions (i.e. cost, what hardware/software is needed, etc.). I'm no tech wizard, but I'm a fast enough learner on this type of stuff that I could probably do it given some time.

Thanks (from yet another frustrated IPowerWeb user)!

Kathy
www.mustanggt.org (http://www.mustanggt.org)

[wbear]

Doing so is more than likely against the TOS for your ISP, and they are probably blocking inbound port 80 requests anyway.. In addition, it's unlikely that you have enough upload bandwidth to support a website.

[leetplans]

<Admin Note: Advertising services is against the forum rules.>

[Joshs]

Data centers provide for redundancy and security. For example, UPS', generators, biometrics security, insurance, HVAC, etc. I would recommend against hosting anything mission critical onsite unless you can support data center operations.

[Reeve of Shinra]

The short answer is that its not feasable and you should pick another host. I'll get to why later on.

Suprass hosting comes highly recommended by alot of people and I would recommend 10for10.com (I have a server with thier parent company).

I understand your frustrations and we were very careful about selecting our new host. The best thing you can do is read up on the various hostinig providers at webhostingtalk before making your next move.

As for why dsl hosting isn't a viable option:

When your hosting, you need alot of upstream bandwidth. Most residental connections are ADSL (asymetrical DSL) which means your upload speed is less than your download. So you may (if your lucky) get 1.5 downstream but only 258k upstream which is FAR from what you would need for even a small site. You might be able to get away with hosting a very small site on an SDSL or business class of service where your upload speed is 1.5k but that would run you close to, if not more than, $100 a month where as good shared hosting is like 1/3 of that.

You can read some more input about hosting yourself at the thread below but the consensus is the same.
http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16701&highlight=cable

[encryption]

moreover, if you're not comfortable with configuring apache, php, mysql, then it's a better idea to let webhosting companies manage it for your rather then have to try and do it yourself and realize... WHOOPS, now I really have some downtime to deal with